Inside the Unusual Mind of Brock Gill

i know that thanksgiving is over but i am still thankful. i have realized how blessed i am this year and i just want to continue to thank God for what i have in my life.

this weekend i was reminded that we are not promised tomorrow. i got the news that my friend lost his life this weekend. its an awful situation and the details are still unknown at this point. what i do know is that he made a bad choice and ended his own life. he found a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

no person is immune to tragedy. for many years he traveled as a communicator to youth groups all over america. he recently founded a church in sugarland texas and was a new pastor. he had a wife and 3 kids. it seems like everything was going great. he seemed to be living the american dream. unfortunately a series of circumstances along with the enormous pressure of being a church leader and spiritual teacher took its toll.

his name was thomas young.

its times like these that make me look at my own life and take inventory. thats when i see how thankful i should be. im thankful for the wonderful life that God has given me. its a sad day but im still thankful.

here is my new pastor. i joined this church today.. wanna go to church with me??

rev charles

i listened to andy stanley speak yesterday at a satellite church in nashville called cumberland church. the message was about giving which is something i have been really learning about for the past couple of years. i thought i had it. i thought i understood giving and serving. i was so wrong. i am a very logical thinker and i act by reasoning things and then making the decision. but this message opened my eyes. actually the message was so much more than about giving. i cant explain it. just go watch or listen. click here. then look for “Be rich:do more. give more”. amazing. you gotta watch or listen to this one

watch it here or listen here

i am doing a show this sunday at the peoples church in franklin tn.
to get a special discount ticket click here. the special key word is “brockgill”. this will get you a special price on ticket for only $5. normal price tickets are $10 each or $35 for family pass.

the show will benefit the children of royal family kids camp. this is a special appearance to raise some money for abused kids. this event is hosted by comedian ken davis. this is gonna be a fun show.

help spread the word.

show starts at 6pm at the peoples church in franklin tn

oh and you might see this new crazy thing right here.

it was amazing to see so many friends get together to feed homeless in nashville. no church, no organization, and no name. just friends living out what they read in scripture

i am just gonna copy this straight from auny’s blog. i didnt need to rewrite it. this is a funny story for you.

I showed you pictures and videos from Alaska, but I didn’t tell you some of the stories from there. Some of the funniest things happened on Sunday. We were at this big church in Anchorage. Sunday morning, it was televised. Brock was supposed to do a little trick and encourage people to come back that night. The church was very traditional and the music guy was particular and sort of a cut up all at the same time (you know people that way). The youth pastor dared Brock to put on one of the choir robes and go out with the choir. Brock didn’t stop and think about it, he ran back to grab a robe.

I’m sitting up in the sound booth when the curtain goes up to reveal a big choir singing onstage and who is with them but Brock! He was standing on the woman’s side singing in a robe. Brock said that the choir director noticed immediately and cracked up! At one point, the camera guys put the camera on him. Then, the preacher introduced Brock for his segment and he simply came from the choir loft and did his thing. He told everyone that he must have got in the wrong line because everyone around him was putting on these robes and going onstage.

Then, Sunday night during the show, Brock went out in the crowd and began messing with this older lady. He got right up in her face and asked her a question. She didn’t respond and Brock was thrown completely off (even though nobody knew that he was thrown off). The reason he was thrown for a loop is because he realized that the lady was really a man in drag. Out of 1,000 people, he had to go up to the only drag queen and single him out! That was a first for sure!

in the past decade there has been a trend in many churches. i have seen that many churches have tried to become more cool, cute, or trendy. much of this has to do with competing with the next church to keep or attract members. i have heard countless people tell me stories of how their church or the church down the road has dumbed it down to try and reach people. some call it “seeker sensitive” and others call it “being relevant”. i am afraid that our attempts to be cool or seeker friendly or whatever have backfired.(click here to read more about this)

i dont want you to hear me say that churches that remained traditional are the ones who are doing it right. i think there are many traditional churches who are guilty of the same problem but in a different way. i also dont want you to hear me say that all churches who have become progressive or modern are doing it wrong. my point is this. in our attempts to become more hip and cool we have become very shallow. the church thought that if we simplify the message and cookie cut the service and play a fun video then unchurched people will think we are cool and want to join the faith. what began for some as good intentions may actually be the absolute wrong thing to do.

here is why. young people today are dealing with real life issues. they do not want a shallow, basic, 1-2-3 sermon to make all their problems go away. they want real answers to real problems. they are far more complex than we give them credit for. they are far more hungry than we even realize. teenagers and college students are looking for the answer. they havent seen it work for their parents. they havent seen it work in our government. they havent seen it work in hollywood. and they are not finding it at church.

we are shallow and misinformed about our young people in america. are you offended that i am blasting the church? ok good. now i have your attention. do your own survey of 20 somethings in your city. most teenagers leave church when they graduate. some say 70% and some say as many as 86% of all teenagers who attend church drop out and do not return to church as soon as they graduate high school. if you survey teenagers in your own youth group today you will find that almost none of them even know basic christian doctrine. they do not even know the basics. most of them cant even tell you a biblical answer for salvation. most teenagers cannot even quote more than 3 verses from the bible. sad? very sad.

we have become so shallow and dont even realize it. we think we are having good services on sundays but the truth is, that is all they are, services. and to tell you the truth, most people are bored out of their minds. maybe its time for us to seek the face of God and quit playing church. maybe we need to rethink our entire approach.

what about you? what do you think?

now if you are a pastor and want to know how to deal with this issue i have something you might find helpful. click here.

and now to explain myself. the above post hasnt been written because i hate the church. the opposite is true. i have a tremendous burden for the thousands of young people i encounter each week across this country. i care about people. i want to see people find the answer. im just afraid that we are not giving it to them. my hope is that pastors, leaders, and believers everywhere will open their eyes to a huge problem. my goal is for you to start dialogue with people in your community. i am not picking a fight. i dont want you to pick a fight with anyone else. we just need to act.

if you are easily offended then dont read this post.

i will be honest, many of the churches that i have been to are dead. often times i am booked at an event at some church and ministry is an afterthought. prayer is never a focus and the only needs that are dealt with is the need for more people to come to the youth group. i have walked away from many churches after doing an event burdened about the people who now have to figure out their faith walk in the hands of doofus youth pastors and pastors that dont care. in some places that i go i meet a youth pastor who is doing everything he can to make a difference but is overworked underpaid and under appreciated. recently i had one youth pastor say to me, “just once in the past 17 years, i wish my pastor would come and see what we do here in this youth building”. i am amazed at what we get away with nowadays. i am amazed at what we call church nowadays.

recently i was teaching some pastors and began to ask them “when is the last time you prayed in church?”. of course everyone had a good answer but the truth is most people cant remember a time they really had a genuine time of prayer where they seeked the face of God. prayer has become nothing more than a transition in worship services. prayer is what we do at the end of the worship set to give people time to get on or off stage. prayer is sometimes a great way to open or close a segment but is that what we think about prayer?

ok im ranting.

tonight i was blessed to see a group of people who get it. they had a strategy, they had a vision, and most of all they pray. they have had a group of students meeting on monday nights to pray for an hour every week. you heard that right. students getting on their face and praying every week. they are praying for their friends and they were praying for auny and i. we saw the results tonight. the place was packed out and 182 people made a decision to follow jesus for the first time.

we saw God do some big things. why is this such a rare thing? the reason is many churches are just plain dead. why are we so surprised that most teenagers dont go to church once they graduate high school? maybe its because they have never been shown how to pray and how to hear God. maybe they have never seen God work in their lives. maybe when we become more concerned about meeting with God and not having church services then maybe we will change. maybe when we realize that kids dont care about fancy youth buildings but they really want to experience God, then we will see change. i dont know about you but i am tired of going to dead churches. i want to see more of what i saw tonight in nebraska. i want to see God move in people.